


The Misadventures of Science Dad

by Malomy



Category: BioShock, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dadster, Fluff, Gen, Mal's Dry Sense of Humor, Minor Violence, Slice of Life, Some angst, mild swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-08-20 09:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16553048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malomy/pseuds/Malomy
Summary: Just the day to day misadventures of a Scientist and his kids. Because of course he always knows what he's doing!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> We are introduced to Science Dad Gaster, Grillby, and the source of their current problem.

****Inside of a lab in the heart of a magical mountain, there worked an exhausted scientist, checking and double checking the data he was currently looking at on a computer screen. He wasn't sure he remembered how long it had been since he had last slept. At the moment, he wasn't able to find it in him to care.

He sat back in his chair, and rubbed a skeletal hand over an equally skeletal face. He felt like he was hitting a brick wall with his current project, but he had to get it to work, had to...

  
"Dr. Gaster, I have those reports you asked for." Gaster was jolted out of his thoughts when a small hamster-like monster came in to his office. How long had he been sitting here staring at this data? He'd asked for those reports when the others had come in this morning, and it should have taken a few hours to gather them...

  
"Thank you Hubert, that is all," Gaster said as he took the papers and started reading through them.

  
Hubert's pinkish eyes lingered on Gasters eyes and face, before he nodded his head and headed for the door. "Yes sir."

  
Gaster's eyes sifted through the words on the pages, until he found what he had been looking for, information of a time and date when an error had occurred with one of his projects.

  
The very same project that had lost him his two precious sons.  
  
Gaster had only been trying to replicate something he had seen in one of the many things that often fell from The Surface. It was one of those video games, something that rarely was left intact on it's way down to the Dump. But this one had been, and he'd even figured out how to make it play without needing the system it was designed to run on. It'd been an interesting puzzle game featuring interdimensional gateways, or portals, as it's main gameplay mechanic. To say that the game had left him inspired would have been an understatement.

  
Before that moment, he'd never considered trying to bypass the Barrier that had all monster-kind trapped in the mountain. He had thought the only way to escape would be to break the barrier entirely. But if he could get these portals to work, and if they could be opened beyond the Barrier, then perhaps...

  
Well Asgore would never have to harm another human just to free Monsters, for one thing. Even if they couldn't be opened up beyond the Barrier, at the very least they would make everyone's lives easier. It had seemed like a win-win in Gaster's eyes. Only now he wished that that disc had smashed into a thousand pieces before it ever got to his hands.

  
He'd started doing preliminary testing of the device, after more than a year of simulations and building. Gaster had been excited about this project, and had been talking about it with all of his closest companions. Including his two young sons, Sans and Papyrus. They'd probably been just as excited as he was, even if Papyrus probably couldn't completely understand even half of what he'd been babbling to the two of them about. The very thought that they might soon get to see the sun and the stars had Sans almost bouncing around in excitement. Almost. He was still Sans, after all.

  
Sans had been begging to be allowed to see the portal machine since Gaster had mentioned it was finally ready for preliminary tests. Gaster had been unwilling to allow his sons near it until he was certain it was not dangerous. Still, Sans had continued to nag him, and his father had finally been willing to relent, since the first round of testing had proven to be successful. Of course, Gaster had still been sure to take every precaution he could think of, one of which was not allowing them near it when the device when it was powered up, and another was making sure the two of them were well protected from it whilst they watched him run his latest test. Sans and Papyrus were more than one hundred feet away, in a room, behind thick protective glass along with several assistants. Gaster hadn't been willing to take any chances, and had thought he'd taken every precaution. He'd been very wrong.

  
It had all happened so quickly. This round of testing was to see if the portal beams could bounce off of reflective surfaces, so Gaster'd had the business end of the device angled up, but still well away from anyone. Things had been going well, when it happened. The power coming from the Core had surged, causing the beams to stutter and the program running it to glitch, if only for a moment. That moment had been enough. Before anyone truly knew what was happening, Sans and Papyrus's surprised shouts could be heard over the intercom and in that moment they had fallen... Right into a portal that had opened under their feet. Before anyone could go after them, the portal had closed, leaving Gaster and everyone else to stand there in stunned silence.

  
Gaster had been the first to recover. He'd powered down the machine as quickly as he could all while shouting at his assistants to start searching everywhere in the labs for his sons. When no signs of them had turned up there, a search was done through all of Hotland and the Underground at large. No stone was left unturned, particularly once the king had gotten involved. The Royal Guard had been called. The camera feeds had been gone over and were monitored live. The entire Underground, including the  Ruins (He'd had to beg a voice behind the door to let him search, but in the end, she had promised to search the Ruins herself.) had been combed. No sign of his sons were to be found. Gaster was forced to admit that perhaps the device had sent his boys somewhere that wasn't the Underground. He refused to think anything else. Refused to think of the possibility that they could be anything less than alive and well.

  
Which brought him back here, to these reports. Once Gaster had concluded the portal machine had somehow opened a portal to another place not in the Underground, he'd dove headfirst into trying to figure out exactly where his sons had been sent to... As well as coming up with a way to monitor where a portal would open when he attempted to retrieve his sons. It'd been a week and half since his sons had vanished. Since then, he'd been working tirelessly, not even leaving the labs. He wanted to say that the retrieval was going quickly. Sadly, it didn't feel like it was. He leaned his face into his hands and took in a few deep shaky breaths that he didn't really need.

  
"You need rest," Gaster startled violently at the sound of a calm, crackly voice. He hadn't even heard anyone enter his office...

  
The skeleton slowly turned his head to look at the smartly dressed, orange fire elemental who was approaching his desk. Of course someone had called Grillby here. Of course. "I'm fine, don't worry."

  
The Bartender only snorted, a strange noise that sounded like the pop of burning wood, and shook his head. "You look like you haven't slept in a week. Knowing you, you probably haven't been eating, either."

  
Gaster tensed up and curled his hands into fists on his desk as he looked away. Part of him knew that Grillby would not leave until he was dragging Gaster back to his house, but Gaster couldn't just leave, he had to much work. "Grillby," he said shakily, "I can't leave now, there's to much for me to do, I need to find them, I need to..."

  
His rambling was interrupted by the sound of two hands smacking down hard on his desk, forcing Gaster to look up at the annoyed face of his best friend. "Dings. If you fall down from exhaustion, who will find them? I am not leaving unless you come with me."

  
Gaster took in another unneeded breath and let it out shakily. In truth, he was running on fumes, but he was just so scared. Scared of running out of time. Scared of not ever finding them. He was practically sobbing when he stuttered, "It's just... I can't... They are... I..."

  
A warm hand had started to rub Gaster's back, causing him to stop his mumbling. It rubbed in slow circles, until he had calmed down. "I know. I know," soothed Grillby's voice. "Let's just get you home for now." Gaster didn't even resist as hands gently coaxed him out of his squeaky office chair. He allowed himself to be guided through the now empty labs and out the doors. It felt like all  the stress, fear, and lack of any meaningful rest was catching up to him all at once. It probably was.

  
The pair rode silently on the boat back to Snowdin, with Gaster looking ahead without really seeing anything. Soon enough, they got off the boat, with Grillby half carrying Gaster on his shoulders as he made his way to his bar. With some difficulty, Grillby managed to get the back door open, and deposited the now half asleep scientist on to a bed. Gaster eyes had almost closed when he noticed a photo on the bedside table. It was a picture he had taken of Grillby and his boys, when they had gone to see Asgore dressed as Santa. The picture had him breaking down into tears.

  
Silently, Grillby pulled the sobbing scientist up to cry into his shoulder, whilst he rubbed calming circles into Gaster's back. In truth, this hadn't been easy  on anyone that cared about the trio of skeletons. But Grillby had been hit particularly hard, since he was close enough to the three of them that he considered them family. He'd had a hard time sleeping at all these past few nights, and yet he'd still somehow managed to sleep more than the man currently weeping into the shoulder of his vest. When Gaster's crying had finally subsided, Grillby eased away so that Gaster could lie back down.

  
Gaster put one hand over his eyes, as he breathed in and out slowly, "I can't lose them, Grillby."

  
Grillby's hand lingered on the light switch as he looked back at Gaster. He closed his eyes and let out a breath, to say, "Me neither," before he switched off the light and let Gaster finally get some sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here, we see a wild Gaster and Grillby interact.

It was just past noon the next day, before the scientist woke up. At first, he was confused as to why he was in Grillby's guest room, until recollection slowly clawed it's way back into his mind. Gaster was more surprised he had managed to sleep without nightmares. He supposed sheer exhaustion would do that to a person. He still felt tired, but his mind at least seemed more clear.

  
He wanted to get right back to work. He knew Grillby wouldn't let him leave without personally making sure he ate. Gaster decided not to fight the inevitable. Besides, eating would give him time to collect his frayed thoughts.

  
He'd only just gotten to his feet when the bedroom door opened to reveal Grillby. The elemental blinked and looked Gaster up and down before saying, "I've made lunch, and you are going to eat it."

  
Gaster could only snort. "You make such a convincing argument, how could I ever say no?"

  
Grillby's flames just lowered and rose again, which Gaster knew to be the flame's equivalent of an eye roll. "Knowing you, you were likely to try and sneak out the window before I caught you."

  
"I would do no such thing," said the scientist, feigning offense. "I would have snuck out the back door, like a civilized skeleton, thank you very much."

  
Grillby just shook his head as he opened the door to the dining room of his bar. As per usual of this time of day, it was full of various Snowdin monsters on break from their days at work. Some of the ones closest to the door spared a glance at Gaster, before they realized it was just him and went back to whatever food or conversations they had been partaking in. Grillby waved him over to the bar and headed into the kitchen.

  
Once seated, Gaster rubbed a hand over his face and went through the data and observations he had collected. They'd managed to isolate the readings from the day of the incident, but none of them led to any location he could reliably pinpoint. From the books that fell from the surface and the oldest documents that the monsters had brought with them, they had developed a reasonably accurate way to map and pinpoint locations even outside the Underground. Of course, it was almost never necessary to track locations beyond the Barrier, but Gaster had felt certain that if his sons had ended up somewhere on the Surface  he'd have been able to figure out close to where but...

  
The data wasn't showing any coordinates that could have possibly pointed to a location on the Surface. He wasn't sure how that was possible. He was terrified of what it could mean.

  
He was violently startled from his morbid line of thinking when a bowl of food was placed in front of him. Some kind of very chunky soup and and a glass of milk. He wasn't sure if he knew what it was.

  
"It's called chili," said Grillby before Gaster could stare to hard at it. "I had some leftover."

  
Gaster just nodded his head as Grillby went back to taking care of the bar. He ate automatically, as his mind went back to contemplating what had happened the day his sons had vanished. When the portal that had taken his sons from him had opened, his assistants hadn't reported seeing anything initially hurt them. One of his taller and more alert assistants had mentioned that they had thought they had briefly been able to see what looked like artificial lights coming from the other side. Camera feeds from inside the observation area showed what they thought was a room, but the feed wasn't clear enough to make out any details. So evidence suggested a building of some sort, but it wasn't a building anywhere they had yet pinpointed so where...

  
Gaster blinked when he saw his now empty bowl and glass being taken away. Well. At least he could get back to work. He rose to leave when he noticed that the bar was now almost empty, but for Greatest Dog, who was making his way out. Surely Grillby hadn't let him sit there that long?

  
"I decided to close early," said Grillby, as if he could read Gaster's mind. He wouldn't have put it past the bartender. "Someone has to make sure you eat again today."

  
Gaster only rolled his eye-lights, but even he could read the subtext. Grillby was just as worried about him as he was about the boys. Didn't mean he had to go down quietly though. "Next thing I know, you'll be feeding me with an IV drip, and a feeding tube."

  
"Of course not," Grillby waved his hand, "I'll tie you to a chair, and spoon feed you, like a civilized elemental."

  
Gaster could only chuckle as they headed out the door. They made their way to the boat in somewhat amiable silence, even as Gaster fell back into deep thought. He felt like he was on the precipice of an answer, and yet it was just barely out of his grasp. It was frustrating. It was terrifying. He just wanted to figure this out.

  
"So, did anyone see what happened to them? You mentioned something about a portal mishap..." Grillby said quietly, his flames turning a dull rust color, a sure sign of how worried he was. Come to think of it, he hadn't really explained much of what had happened to Grillby, he'd been to frantic and busy. He really needed to remedy that.

  
"Hm. Well, as you know, the portal device was designed to open up two linked portals when placed on a suitably flat, non-reflective surface," Gaster said, slipping easily into lecture mode, "We were running tests to see if the beam could be bounced off of reflective surfaces, when the power from the core surged. The beam flickered on as I was adjusting the angle, which caused it to be bounced towards the observation area. It went through the protective glass, where previously it had not been able to do that. The spot it hit was right under my sons' feet and they... fell in."

  
Gaster fell into silence and squeezed his fingers, an anxious habit, as Grillby let the story sink in. "Did anyone see what was on the other side?"

  
"All visual evidence points to them falling into a building of some description, but we have not as of yet been able to locate where it could possibly be," Gaster rubbed his face, just as the boat pulled up to shore, "They aren't in the Underground and they're likely not on The Surface either, but I cannot figure out where else they could be..."

  
"They could've fallen into one of those video game worlds you used to talk about all the time," Grillby had meant that more as a throwaway line more than anything else. A halfhearted attempt at a joke, meant to cover his increasing anxiety. He didn't expect Gaster to stop dead in his tracks and then slowly look up to stare at him as if he had suddenly brought down The Barrier and grown about three extra heads to boot.

  
"One of those video game worlds..." Grillby could practically see the processors in his mind firing up as Gaster went into what Grillby had dubbed Super Sonic Gaster Mode. Sure enough, Gaster suddenly bolted with all the speed one would have expected of a Temmie that decided to strap rockets to its legs, not a scientist with a habit of forgetting to eat, never mind sleep. Grillby went after him at a much more sedate pace. After all, he knew exactly where Gaster was heading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey, it's chapter 2. And I also just found out that snuck is not considered standard English and is considered incorrect if you are going for correct grammar. I'm still using it, and you can't stop me. That had nothing to do with the actual contents of this chapter, I just found it funny.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grillby prepares dinner at the labs, while Gaster runs with his new revelation. Grillby has some time to introspect.

Just as Grillby expected, when he got to the lab Gaster was all over the place, flitting about like a caffeinated gnat with an attention disorder.

  
"...and make sure they account for the variables from the core's power supply when they do the calculations, I know we have it this time. I will retrieve our documentation on the Void project as well..." Gaster was saying to a poor assistant that was simultaneously taking notes, while trying to keep up with the Royal Scientist's long, swift strides.

  
Grillby continued on to the lab's break room, where he started setting up dinner. He was quite glad of his decision to go with sandwiches and other finger foods, since getting Gaster to sit down and eat like this would be nearly impossible. He was sure the rest of the staff would appreciate it to.

  
While he worked at making sandwiches, he thought about Gaster and his boys.

  
He remembered the first time he met Gaster. It was shortly after monsters had been sealed Underground, and they were all still trying to process the shock. He'd been helping  construct temporary shelters, when the young skeleton had managed to plow into him with a veritable mountain of books. Grillby had helped him pick up his things, as Gaster spent the whole time apologizing. Apparently, the eventual-scientist had taken it upon himself to make sure that all the books and documents that they had managed to bring down with them were well preserved and he really needed to get that done right now, because they just had to make sure not to lose them. Grillby had only been able to shake his head as the skeleton dashed off again, almost as heedlessly as before.

  
That had been the first time Grillby had been witness to one of Gaster's frenzies, but it certainly wouldn't be the last. As time went on and monster-kind adjusted to their life Underground, the two of them became close friends, though not without a few more collisions. The one that stood out most was the time Gaster had almost sent him into the river.

  
That tumble would have killed him, if Gaster hadn't reacted quickly and used blue magic to drag him away from the river. Grillby managed to escape with minor injuries. Since then, Gaster was more careful to watch where he was going.

  
As he got older and their friendship developed, Gaster mellowed out... Or at least he mellowed out in comparison to how he used to be. He was still just as prone to fits of frantic hyper focused mania, but after enough times of being forcibly dragged back out of it by a certain exasperated elemental, Gaster had learned to temper his focus. Grillby suspected that creating Sans and Papyrus had helped in that regard as well.

  
Grillby remembered the day when Gaster had mentioned wanting a child. It had only been a few months after the completion of the Core, and the two of them were having a drink after hours at his bar, so they were at least slightly inebriated.

  
It was the last thing he had expected, so of course he said the first stupid thing that had popped into his head. "I wasn't even aware we were dating."

  
"Cheers, but I don't think we'd work out," had been Gaster's reply.

  
After that Gaster had gone off on a tangent about how he'd had the idea to create a child without the need for a partner, because he honestly never expected to find one. Grillby had made an offhanded remark about how the now Royal Scientist just hadn't met them yet. Gaster only shook his head. Besides, if he could get this to work, it would help others who wanted a child, but couldn't have one on their own. Grillby couldn't argue with that logic.

  
Thus, the skeleton spent over a year trying to figure it out, with his hyper focus being tempered by the elemental making sure he remembered to sleep. As fate would have it, Gaster ended stumbling upon exactly how to do it mostly by accident. Grillby never understood all the details, but it seemed that it had something to do with the brand new hole in Gaster's hand. Grillby wasn't sure if he should have been upset with the bonehead over it.

  
Sans was exactly the child you would have expected Gaster's offspring to be. Which meant he had a knack for getting into trouble in surprising ways. An impressive feat for someone so small and prone to napping everywhere, but Sans certainly kept his father on his toes. Grillby dared to say the kiddo helped them both mature in a few ways that they didn't even realize they weren't. So it wasn't much of a shock when Gaster decided to create a sibling for Sans, though it did end with Gaster's other hand becoming a cup holder.

  
Sans was just over 3 years old when Gaster introduced him to his newborn... created... baby brother Papyrus. Sans was surprisingly happy about this new addition to the family. Grillby remembered that he wasn't nearly so glad to hear about it when he was going to be an older brother.

  
Grillby was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of many feet making their way into the break room.

  
"Ah, thanks Grillby, I was starving," said a rather strange bird-like monster as they grabbed a sandwich. Other lab assistants filed in after them, all with varying degrees of tired but happy looks on their faces.

  
Gaster was the last one to come in. He wore that look on his face that Grillby remembered seeing once before. It was almost the same look the scientist had worn right before activating the Core for the first time, an anxious look of someone who thought something was going to work, but was worried that something could go wrong. Except this one was more fearful, more tired looking. He looked at Grillby and took a steadying breath before speaking.

  
"I think we've found them. Stars, I hope we've found them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh, got ya with the cliffhanger.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaster is almost 1000% certain he has this, finally, he just needs to try this out. It does, and Gaster knows exactly what to expect on the other side... Wait. No he doesn't.

It was around midnight of that same day, and the Royal Scientist was making adjustments to the program running his portal device. Grillby was nearby watching him, since the device wasn't yet powered on. "So run that by me again?" said the very same flame.

  
"It's simple, really," Slipping into lecture mode was easy for Gaster, even at a time like this. "When you mentioned the possibility of them falling into a video game world, it all clicked into place. The portal device works by creating a stable tear in reality that links back to our world. However, that is not to say that that it cannot link to other worlds, as proven recently by the results of our data analysis and simulations. I simply had to account for this being possible at all. I was so fixated on them being on the Surface, that I failed to see the obvious solution right in front of me. So, thank you for that."

  
"I meant that as a joke, though your thanks are much appreciated," Grillby said as he came over to look at the program Gaster was working on. "Wait... If this thing can open doors to other worlds, does that mean there are some just like ours? How many worlds are there anyway?"

  
"It's..." Gaster opened and closed his mouth a few times before just shaking his head. "Probably to many to comprehend. Regardless, I'm about to power the device on, so get to the observation room."

  
Grillby reached up to pat Gaster's shoulder as he turned to leave. "You have this, Dings."

  
The scientist watched him go for a moment, before inhaling slowly and running the portal machine's start-up protocols. It whirred and roared to life with all the vigor of an over-eager grade-schooler that had just been informed that school was out for an extended break.

   
Looking at the machine without an explanation, one wouldn't have thought it to be that special. It was a mesh of colored wires with sturdy white metal housings covering the more sensitive areas. It was roughly the size of a small car, and sat on a rotating turntable to allow for the beam to be fired at a full three hundred and sixty degrees around the testing area. It all culminated in the muzzle of the device, that looked like it would have been more at home on a science fiction ray gun than a machine meant to punch holes in reality.

  
Gaster straightened himself in the seat and started entering the final string of coordinates and information that would let him go to where his sons were. One of the first adjustments they had made was a tracking protocol that would hopefully open the portal near his two sons. He wished he'd had time to test it out, but each passing moment was one more moment where he could be a moment to late. The father took one final unneeded breath before hitting the button that would fire the device.

  
The beam hit the wall with a lackluster "phlut" revealing what looked like a narrow and grimy alley. He couldn't see much beyond that. Without hesitation, he left his seat and stepped into the portal.

  
The first thing Gaster noticed was the smell. Oh Angel above, did he notice the horrible smell. It smelled like rot, and alcohol, and death and a whole manner of other things he just couldn't find words to describe. He made his way down the alley, cursing the holes in his hands as they did nothing to help him hide from the stench. He got near the end, and found a busted out window on one side. He glanced inside, before recoiling back. Just inside, on what was left of a dingy mattress, was a dead human. Half their body looked as if it had been burned, and what wasn't burned looked like it was horribly deformed, almost like the body was melting. He needed to find his sons, and soon.

  
With considerably more caution than he'd had before (and he'd been ready to be very cautious to begin with) the scientist left the alleyway, and got his first true look at his surroundings. The place, frankly, looked like it had seen better days. He came out near a junction of what looked like a mix between a shopping mall, and an interior from some opulent house, that hadn't been cleaned in who knew how long. It was also quite dim, and most of the stores, if they even were stores, were either barely lit, or almost completely dark.  All of this in an architecture style he thought he might have seen in an old human book sometime ago. (Art Deco, his mind helpfully supplied. A useless tidbit that was now almost useful.) It all culminated in a sight that had him stopping to stare at it, when he finally noticed it. An arched glass ceiling, and above it seemed to be... water. Water deep enough for an enormous aquatic creature to swim by right before his eyes. This place, this place had to be beneath the ocean. If he hadn't been here to rescue his sons, he'd have been taking notes and trying to figure out how this was possible. As it was, he just shook his head and continued forward.

  
He moved onward, checking whatever stores he could get into, while being hyper aware of whatever sounds were around him. He was startled nearly out of his non-existent skin by the sound of an intercom.

  
"Hey Mary, why so down in the mouth?"

  
"I don't know, Jim. I guess I just don't know how I feel about those Little Sisters."

  
"The Little Sisters? Gee! Don't you know they're the glue that holds Rapture together?"

  
The skeleton didn't notice much else of what was said, as he calmed himself down to think for a moment. So, there were Little Sisters around? What even were those? That also sounded rather odd, like some kind of advertisement, though there wasn't anyone around to hear it. This fact caused him an increasing amount of concern, but he decided to continue on. He considered calling out to his sons. Then he remembered the dead human on the grungy mattress. He decided against raising his voice, not wanting to bring unwanted attention to himself.

  
The skeleton had searched a good half of the apparent mall, when he came upon what appeared to be a gloomy clothing store. He crept in, shining about a small light he'd pulled from his inventory. The place had obviously long since been ransacked of anything useful, with torn fabric and toppled over mannequins strewn about everywhere. He made his way to the back to what appeared to be changing areas, and managed to avoid crying out at the sight of himself in a full length mirror... though it was a near thing. He had only just taken a step towards it, when a voice cried out, "Dad?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, this will be a bit of a crossover fic, though we won't actually be in Rapture very long, except for flashbacks. Also, you know that place would stink something awful. Only reason you can't tell how badly it stinks is because you have one reality filter protecting your poor olfactory nerves.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we finally get to meet the two mythological skeleton kids and there are no complications afterwards at all, nope.

When the father heard the sound of his eldest son's voice, he couldn't hold back when the boy came from behind a door. He fell to his knees as Sans ran into his embrace. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes. "Sans! You're okay... I feared... Is Papyrus nearby?"

  
Just as the words left his mouth, the young skeleton in question ran up to his father's arms, "Daddy!"

  
The two young boys both clung to their father in relief, while Gaster took a few moments to reassure himself that his two sons were really here. It was hard to deny the feeling of an enormous weight being lifted from him. He drew back a little, to get a good look at the state of them, using his light to shine down to see. They didn't seem to have any obvious injuries, but they were both quite dirty. "I'm so glad you are both alright. Has it been hard for you?"

  
Sans scrubbed at his eyes to wipe away some tears, as he sniffed a bit before answering, "Yeah, but we had help." Before Gaster could wonder much about it, his youngest piped up.

  
"Yes! Frisk helped! Frisk?" Papyrus almost ran back in to the small room he had emerged out of. "Frisk? It's okay. It's Daddy! Come on, come on!" Gaster noticed that Papyrus had quieted down his voice some. He didn't have time to think to about it, as his eldest went back to the door to coax Frisk out as well.

  
"Yeah, Frisk, it's okay. Dad isn't a Bad Man, he'll get us home."

  
Gaster wasn't sure what he was expecting to walk out of the door. An adult human, perhaps, or a ghost. He didn't expect his youngest to lead out a small human by the hand. This little girl, (He assumed she was female, as only female humans tended wear dresses, as far as he remembered.) she couldn't have been any older than Papyrus. If his two sons were dirty, this poor girl looked filthy. Her dress was heavily stained with a multitude of things he wasn't sure he wanted to know the origin of, while her tangled, brown hair looked to have dirt of many varieties in it. She couldn't stop looking about everywhere, as if she was ready to bolt at any time. When they stopped in front of him, she clung to Papyrus's arm even as she looked up at him with watery green eyes.

  
Gaster squeezed his fingers before forcing himself to relax. In truth, he hadn't known many humans before the war. The ones he had met had shied away from him, him being a skeleton and all. So he didn't have much direct experience with humans, not even the ones that had fallen into the mountain, save for perhaps Chara. But they had been a very closed off child and seldom interacted with anyone outside of their adopted family. All the rest had been caught or killed before he even saw them, so it was no shock that he wasn't precisely sure how to interact with this human child. Then again, she was a child and he at least had experience with those. He kept his voice low and soft as he extended his hand slowly. "Hello, Frisk. You helped my sons? I thank you for that."

  
She looked at his hand as if she were confused about what to do with it. Regardless, the child looked him in the eye-sockets for a moment, and then stared down at her feet, before murmuring, "The Bad Men and the Big Loud Man woulda hurt them."

  
Gaster slowly rose to his feet though the girl still jumped back some. Papyrus was quick to rub her arm to reassure her.

  
"Come along kids. We shouldn't stay here." Gaster started to head out of the the store, as he gently took his sons hands, while Frisk remained glued to Papyrus. They stuck close his sides as he walked. Closer than his sons would normally walk when they were with him. Papyrus was also so much quieter than he would be normally. The father couldn't help but feel a sense of wariness because of it.

  
Gaster had intended to take the children back to where the portal was. He intended to send his boys through, and then find some where safe for Frisk to be, perhaps help her find her parents, or a sane adult. Because he couldn't take her home, but he shouldn't just abandon her. He didn't think there would be much interference in the first part, at least. So naturally, his plans were interrupted by the sounds of a few voices coming their way.

  
"I know I saw that big freak go in there." Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, only a few feet from the entrance, and all the children had varying frightened looks on their faces.

  
"You sure the guy was like 'em two freaks?" said a second, rather coarse male voice.

  
"Looked 'xactly like those two runts. Might be worth twice the Adam." answered the first, squirrelly sounding voice.

  
"If the brat is still with 'em, do you think she 'as some Adam left in 'er?"

  
"Might be worth it to check."

  
Gaster was already reaching for his magic, because there was a very high chance they were talking about him and his sons. Even as the thought occurred to him, he could already feel his sons starting to tremble. He'd be damned before he let anything happen to them. He may not have been a front-line fighter in the war, but he knew his way around a fight. So he was certain he could hold them off at least long enough to get to safety... He just hoped there weren't to many for him to hold off.

  
The two humans finally reached the entrance. At least, Gaster assumed they were humans. Much like the corpse on the bed, these two's features appeared to be distorted and melted, as if they were made of candle wax that someone had allowed to melt into until it had started to drip all over itself. He also noted their clothes were ragged. "Well, well lookit what we got here, three freaks and a brat."

  
Gaster made a noise as if to clear his throat. "Gentlemen. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He kept his voice cold, unyielding.

  
"Ooooh, we got a fancy sonofabitch over here," said Mr. Squirrelly, as he smacked a pipe against his palm. "Why don't you freaks come along all quiet like and we might not even hurt the brat."

  
Squirrely took a step forward. That was as close as Gaster let them get before he turned Squirrelly's soul blue and sent him flying straight into Mr. Coarse, all while the two of them were letting loose surprised expletives. They landed in a heap of rubbish in the shop on the other side, and Gaster took this opportunity to urge the children forward.

  
"Hurry, to the right!" Gaster all but yelled. The kids didn't need telling twice. Frisk took the lead, (which might have surprised Gaster if he had any thought to spare for it) holding on to Papyrus's hand while Sans kept close behind them. Gaster brought up the rear, but the two goons wouldn't be stopped that easily, as Squirrelly managed to disentangle himself and give chase.

  
"You freaks ain't gettin' away that easy!" Squirrelly roared as he brought out a weapon Gaster had really hoped he'd never have cause to see in real life. Squirrelly got off one shot of his gun, which missed him, but got uncomfortably close to Sans' left arm, before he let loose a barrage of charged bones right into Squirrely's legs and arms. Squirrelly went down again, sending his gun skittering off somewhere, all while he cursed up a storm from both pain and rage.

  
"Don't let the damned freaks get away!" Squirrelly wasn't able to get up, but he was still able to raise his voice.

  
Gaster just urged the kids to keep running towards the alley and the portal to safety that he hoped was still there, even as the sound of another voice coming from the direction they were running caused the kids to stop short.

  
"What is that fool shouting about this time... Oh," Another deformed human, this time a female, came out of a door, far to close to the alley for Gaster's liking. "Now, now, come along-"

  
The skeleton did not let her finish that sentence before he sent her backwards away from the alleyway to their home. "Into the alley, quickly!"

  
The children picked up their pace again, though this time Sans grabbed hold of Frisk's other hand as they turned into the alley, with Gaster close behind them.

  
"Barbarians! Parasites! You'll pay for that!" the female human came running up behind them wielding a pipe, as Gaster turned to face her. Down came the pipe... right over Gaster's right eye.

  
The pain was excruciating. Vision blurred, Gaster was forced to take a few steps back, as the woman lunged forward again. In his panic, he sent out a veritable barrage of bones, not all of which even hit the woman... But more than enough did. She fell backwards, unconscious, as the bones faded from existence.

  
Gaster held one hand over his injury as he turned back, where he could see blurry outlines of the children headed towards what he could only assume, by the harsh white light, was the portal home. He didn't have time to feel relief, as he heard shouting coming from the building that'd had the dead human.

  
"Into the portal!" the father shouted, as he saw the three of them slow down at the white oval to safety. The two blurs that he could only assume were his sons pulled the middle blur right along with them into it, as Gaster closed the distance and nearly leapt into the portal himself.

  
After finally making it back to the testing area, the father sprinted to the machine's controls and started fumbling with the buttons that would close that portal down. He really had to focus way to much magic to his eyes (he needed to heal off that damage and soon) to even see them, but soon enough the portal flickered closed cutting off the sounds of human voices and the door to that horrible place.

  
Gaster took a moment to close his eyes and breathe in out in relief. His sons, his precious sons, were finally back where they belonged.

  
"Where are we?" Wait. That was Frisk's voice...

  
"This is Dad's lab. We're safe here," answered Sans.

  
"Lab?"

  
"Yeah!" Cut in Papyrus's enthusiastically. "Daddy works here! He makes neat things!"

  
The rest of their conversation went unheard by the eldest skeleton, as horror and trepidation set in. Frisk was a human. A human who's soul would be the last needed to break the Barrier. A human who could only give up that soul by dying. And Gaster had brought her here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy howdy, do I suck at writing a decent fight scene. It's finally written though! Go me! Also, a few notes here so there is no confusion. Gaster was born during a time when humans were very rigid in their gender roles, or at least they were in the area Ebott is in. You might have had exceptions in Mages, but way back then, it was safe to assume that anyone wearing a dress was identifying as a female. As for whether or not that has changed on the current human society? It probably has, but Gaster has no way of knowing for certain. As for Frisk? She's doesn't care much about it either way. She's had far to much else to be worrying about.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaster now has to figure out how to handle the fact that he brought a human to the Underground. Naturally, there are those that find this cause for celebration, regardless of how he feels about that.

The first thing the father did was take about ten seconds to breathe in air that he didn't really need, as the ache in his head came back with a vengeance. It took everything he had not to show any signs of pain as he spoke to the children. "Boys, and, ah, Frisk. I need to have a word with my assistants before we can go home. Stay in this room until I come and get you, and do not touch the machine."

  
He couldn't see his eldest's expression, but he heard the hesitation as he took a few moments to answer. "Okay, Dad."

  
Gaster rose to his feet and headed out of the door to the testing area and up to the observation room. As soon he was out of view of the children, he held his head and let out the pained groan that he'd been suppressing since he had gotten back. His walk was slow, but he knew Grillby would be able to at least heal away the pain. He just hoped his vision wasn't permanently effected.

  
As soon as the Scientist got to the observation room, he paused. He could hear the sounds of an argument coming from inside.

  
"That human is going to free us!" That sounded like the new lab tech, who's name he had yet to learn.

  
"But she is just a child, we can't-" That was Grillby's voice.

  
"What does it matter? It's a human!"

  
"She came in with the boys, we can't just do that to her!"

  
"The Doctor obviously tricked it into coming here to break the Barrier, why else would it be here?"

  
"Can't we just wait to see what the Doc wants?" And that had to be Hubert.

  
"The Doctor is going to take it straight to Asgore, what else would he do?"

  
Gaster could only suppress a groan as he hit the key pad to open the door. All argument stopped immediately as he entered and they all caught sight of him.

  
"Dings, your face!" Grillby rushed forward ready to heal him, but Gaster waved him away.

  
"Doctor, this is amazing! You found the last human for us!" the lab tech exclaimed as one of their claws gestured out towards what Gaster was sure was the testing area.

  
"Doctor, what're you going to do with them?" Hubert asked as he stepped forward to stand next to the tech. They turned their head to stare at him, as if that were the most idiotic thing he could have possibly asked.

  
"I am going to put her under observation, for now. Do not disclose her existence until I have had the chance to inform the King myself," the Royal Scientist said. He needed to buy time to figure this out, because he knew, he just knew, that there would be no way to hide Frisk for very long. Especially with the way the Lab Tech seemed so excited. Excited about the death of an innocent child... He pushed that thought aside, to be dealt with later. "The two of you should go home for tonight. You may have tomorrow...," he remembered that it was past midnight, "I mean today off."

  
The lab tech gave an excited whoop as they walked out briskly. Hubert followed, but not before turning to stare at Gaster for a moment. As soon as the both of them were well out of earshot, Grillby spoke up. "Dings. That crack has got to hurt."

  
"Immensely," Gaster sighed as he sat down in an office chair, "If you could..." He didn't even need to finish that sentence before hot hands were on his skull banishing away the pain, with warm, comforting waves of healing magic. Gaster had practically fallen asleep, his head filled with the scent of burning wood, when the hands pulled away. He blinked and shook his head as his vision started to clear. He could finally make out Grillby's worried face a few feet away, but much farther than that was still blurry.

  
"I don't think I can do much about the rest of the crack. What even happened? Are the boys okay?" Grillby asked as he sat in a chair next to Gaster's.

  
"A human with a pipe attacked me as was escaping with the children. The boys are not injured, thankfully," the father rested his head against his hand as he closed his eyes. He knew the full story would have to wait for another time. "However, we now have a problem..."

  
"The human. You didn't mean to bring her here, did you?"

  
"No. I did not."

  
"What are you going to do?"

  
"I'm not sure..." Gaster rose to his feet, and turned towards the door. "For now, will you help me get them cleaned up and put to bed?"

  
"Of course, Dings," Grillby got up and followed the skeleton out the door. When they arrived at the testing area, they found Papyrus and Frisk drowsily leaning on a wall and on each other, while Sans sat in front of them telling them a story.

  
"...and then after Dad turned the engine on, it started smoking and shaking. I think it blew up, cause after Dad dragged me outta the room, the whole house caught on fire," Sans told them, as he made gestures with his hands.

  
"Is that how he met Grillby?" asked Papyrus.

  
"No, no, I met him back when monsters first came down here," interjected Grillby, causing all three kids to look their way. Gaster didn't fail to notice how Frisk shook when she saw the elemental.

  
"Really? I thought Grillby came from a fire!"

  
Gaster had to hold back a laugh as the elemental just blinked for a few seconds before he said. "No, I had parents just like anyone else."

  
Papyrus put a fist over his mouth as he processed this. Gaster cleared his throat, causing the kids to look at him. "Children, it's time to get cleaned up for bed. Frisk, would you be okay with me helping you or...?"

  
Frisk stared up at him, before her eyes darted over to Grillby. The father spoke up again. "Grillby won't hurt you, I promise."

  
She looked back at him again with watery eyes, before she nodded her head. Gaster got on one knee and finally took the time to assess her physical condition. She was much paler than he realized she was before, almost as pale as his boys. He supposed it made sense given that she likely grew up without any natural sun light, but it still felt off. Her limbs also looked skinny, skinnier than he thought they should have been. Speaking of limbs, her left leg was bowed inward, almost if it had been previously broken and not healed properly. All in all, it painted a picture of a young girl who had not had an easy life.

  
He reached out for one of her hands, which she slowly offered. He rose back up to follow Grillby, who had already started leading the boys out of the testing area. She kept rubbing her eyes as she walked alongside him. He wondered when it was that she last got a good night's sleep. When his boys had last gotten a good night's sleep.

  
They made their way to a small apartment the Doctor had had built into the lab many years ago. He almost never used it now, but there was a time where he pretty much lived in this studio. That was around the time that he had started working on the Core. It really wasn't much, just one room that served as a kitchen and living room, a small bedroom, a bathroom,  and a bathtub with a detachable shower head. It mostly shared it's aesthetic with the lab. Which was to say it was the same type of practical, with little room for decoration.

  
The father looked over at his boys as they approached the bathroom.  His sons wouldn't take that long cleaning up, and they could help each other while Frisk... He'd probably need to help her, with how sleepy the poor child looked. His boys were tired to, but he knew Sans would make sure Papyrus was scrubbed clean, regardless of how tired he was, and Papyrus would try and do the same for Sans.

  
Gaster contemplated just letting her sleep and bathing her when they woke up. Then he caught a whiff of traces of That Place. He decided that she would not be going another hour without a proper scrub.

  
"Boys, I want you to take a bath first. Sans, help make sure Papyrus gets clean," Papyrus groaned, but Sans dragged his brother into the bathroom. "Grillby, could you find the kids some clothes to wear to bed?"

  
The flame just nodded his head and left to search for whatever clothes had been left. Gaster once again contemplated the small human who was currently sitting on the floor next to his feet. She hadn't said much of anything since they'd met. He wondered if that was because of fatigue and fear or if she was just naturally quiet. He lowered himself to the floor to sit next to her. "Frisk, do you have parents?"

  
The young girl just looked up at him and shook her head. "No..."

  
Gaster had to force himself not to show any visible signs of disappointment. "Perhaps grandparents? An adult you stayed with?"

  
The girl looked away and hugged herself, sniffling. "There was Mama Tenenbaum, but I don' wanna go..."

  
The father reached out to place a hand on her back. When she did not flinch away, he rubbed her back slowly to soothe her. As she cried, Gaster contemplated what he could possibly do with her. He'd figured there wasn't anyone in That Place to look out for her, but he had hoped...

  
He'd come up with a plan after everyone had rested. Right now, he had three children that really needed to get to sleep.

  
Frisk had only just stopped crying when Grillby returned, clothes in hand. He spared a glance for the two on the floor before he made his way to the bathroom to drop off the clothes. Frisk was staring at the door when she asked. "Is Grillby mad at me?"

  
Gaster eyes widened, surprised. "No, of course not," If anything, Grillby was probably just as worried about her being here as he was. "What ever made you think that?"

  
"He looked mad."

  
It occurred to Gaster that Grillby's expressions were likely nearly unintelligible to humans. Even most monsters had trouble with following his moods. It was second nature to him, and by extension his sons, only because he had a lifetime of practice.

  
"That is just the way his face looks when he is mostly calm," he gestured towards the bathroom door just as all three of them came out of it. "You're not angry, right Grillby?"

  
Grillby blinked in surprise and shook his head. "Of course not, why would you..." The flame caught sight of Frisk's face. "Right. I'm not mad at you, Frisk. We've just been worried about the boys."

  
"Indeed," Gaster got to his feet, and reached out for Frisk's hand, which she took as she was pulled up. "Now let's get you cleaned up so you can go to bed."

  
"Frisk can sleep in my bed!" Piped up the youngest skeleton.

  
The father only chuckled as they went into the bathroom. "Considering that this place only has one bed, she won't have much choice."

  
Papyrus pouted as Sans led him to bed, which left Gaster to start drawing up a bath. As he let it fill (Not to hot, but not cold either. He'd learned how to get bath water up to near perfect temperature early on in his parental life. It made bathing angry babybones much easier.) he noticed Frisk struggling to get off her grubby dress. It seemed to be a kind that was cinched around the waist, and did not have fasteners in the front. "Here, Frisk, let me help with that," he said as he beckoned her to come over to stand in front of him.

  
Like he had expected, it was the kind that was difficult to get off without help. He thought it might have once been white, but it was so stained that he couldn't be certain. As Frisk stepped out of it, Gaster pondered what he'd do with it. ...He'd probably get Grillby to incinerate the disgusting thing.

  
After he helped her into the tub (she didn't weigh as much a he thought she would), he started to help her scrub off, since she was to sleepy to clean up thoroughly. Mercifully, her torso wasn't as filthy as her arms and legs. Regardless, the father realized that he'd likely need to drain and refill the tub at least once before the end.

  
With her body mostly clean, he moved onto the mop of string he was mostly certain was called hair. Fortunately for the both of them, it wasn't much longer than her shoulders. Unfortunately for both of them, Gaster had never had a reason to touch human hair before, so he had no idea what he was doing. He tugged experimentally at one of the tangles. This earned him a flinch and a pained cry. "Sorry, sorry."

  
He contemplated just how he was supposed to go about this. Should he just get it clean and wait until she had slept... No, that would likely make this even harder. And so he picked up his soap and braced himself for a long battle with her hair.

  
It took longer than he was hoping it would, but eventually he won the war against the tangled mop of keratin. It took half an hour, but it was finally both clean and mostly straightened out. He started draining the tub for the final time, while the exhausted young girl leaned on the side of the tub. She'd been remarkably cooperative throughout all of that. It was odd, now that he thought about it. Regardless of her relationship to his sons, he was still more or less a stranger to her. For her to trust him so quickly... He didn't know what to make of it.

  
After helping her back out of the tub and in getting dressed, he led her to the bedroom. Sans and Papyrus were already curled up under the blanket, fast asleep. Frisk climbed on to the bed, while the father pulled back blankets so he could tuck them all in. The young girl crawled in between them and clung to Papyrus. He mumbled in his sleep and rolled over to face her. Gaster had to admit, the sight was adorable.

  
He tucked them in, and gently stroked their heads. Then he bid them good night, and made his way to the couch only to find it already occupied.

  
"Grillby, shouldn't you be getting home?"

  
The elemental just shook his head and gestured to the floor, where he'd put a sleeping bag. "You can sleep there."

  
The skeleton rolled his eyelights and got into the sleeping bag, to tired to argue. There was so much to think about. And he still had no idea what he would do with Frisk. But whatever he decided to do, it could wait until they woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my ancient laptop has started to really remind me of just how old and decrepit it is. Welp. Anyway, this chapter just proves how slow of a writer I actually am, since I had chapters 1-4 pre-written before I posted chapter 1. I only finished this one a few days ago. Ah well. Also for anyone wondering how Gaster knew how to untangle anything? Let's just say Sans really was a mischievous baby and toddler. He still is, but he hasn't been showing that to much right now because... Well can you blame him?

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first work I've submitted to this fandom, and the first thing I've attempted to maintain writing in ages. I'll try to post weekly, but I do write rather slowly.


End file.
